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Football Focus


S.A.C Martin
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Just seen on BBC news that Ugo Ehiogu (former Villa player) has passed away following cardiac arrest, aged only 44.

Good, solid defender as I remember and an asset to the England team.

 

R I P.

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It's not looking good after today for the folk on the Red side of the Trent

 

At least the Brewers have defied all the odds

Edited by Ramrig
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It will go in-noticed in the press but, without doubt, Nigel Clough should be awarded manager of the year. To keep such a small budget club as Burton Albion in the Championship is a stunning achievement. They were only in the bottom three once all season and could have managed what Nottingham Forest may not. There will be a few nervous faces (and a lot of nervous empty red seats) at the City Ground next weekend. That club has been going backwards under their foreign owner for several years. As a Derby County fan I find it quite amusing but, being married to a Forest fan, I sympathise a little. I honestly believe they will stay up because I cannot see Blackburn getting result at Brentford next week. Having said that stranger things have happened and Forest's opponents, Ipswich, are full of ex Reds. It would be typical if one of them scored the goal that sent them down!

As for Derby, a meaningless 3-1 win at home to Wolves ended our home league season. A typical end of season game embellished by the Wolves' player stupidly getting himself sent off for a head butt with us cruising at 2-0 up. One or two Rams players failed to give a case for being there next season. It could be an interesting summer of ins and outs.

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It will go in-noticed in the press but, without doubt, Nigel Clough should be awarded manager of the year. To keep such a small budget club as Burton Albion in the Championship is a stunning achievement. They were only in the bottom three once all season and could have managed what Nottingham Forest may not. 

 

 

Absolutely agree about Clough.

I don't know what system they have played this season, but when my team Exeter City faced Burton and Clough in the Conference and League 2

they always played good attractive football, with good discipline. They were the best team that I saw a couple of seasons and have played us off the park more than once,

 

cheers  

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Absolutely agree about Clough.

I don't know what system they have played this season, but when my team Exeter City faced Burton and Clough in the Conference and League 2

they always played good attractive football, with good discipline. They were the best team that I saw a couple of seasons and have played us off the park more than once,

 

cheers

 

Not seen much of Burton this season but, being local I have heard plenty, they seem to have played 3-5-2 for much of the season and have made good use of the loan market. Clough has brought in decent loan players such as Sordell, Kightley, Varney and Woodrow who all have a point to prove at this level. Add that to Brayford who he knows well and some bargain signings like Irvine and McFadzean and he has a decent and well organised team. The challenge for him is to do it all again next season, whilst the club will need to improve the stadium to meet Championship expectations.

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Flipping heck - that's relegation to League 2 avoided by just 1 point -  very bad luck Port Vale you didn't realty deserve that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Thanks to the Gills for this years' heart-stopping perennial relegation battle :banghead: -  I SOOO look forward to next season - at least there'll be two "Derby's with my 2nd team "The Janners" to look forward too 

Edited by Southernman46
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A very poignant piece (found while checking the F1 race times - I'm not a DT reader): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/04/28/farewell-leyton-orient-grandad-said-never-kid-never-should-have/

 

It could well be the end of London's second oldest club.  Not my team, but English football will be poorer without them.

 

Supporters of rich clubs probably won't understand.

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A very poignant piece (found while checking the F1 race times - I'm not a DT reader): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/04/28/farewell-leyton-orient-grandad-said-never-kid-never-should-have/

 

It could well be the end of London's second oldest club.  Not my team, but English football will be poorer without them.

 

Supporters of rich clubs probably won't understand.

What a great piece of feature writing.

 

Plain fact is that there are too many clubs in London. And having West Ham move in next door must have been the final nail in the coffin for Orient.

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Plain fact is that there are too many clubs in London. And having West Ham move in next door must have been the final nail in the coffin for Orient.

Not sure I'd agree - which clubs would have to go?  (Rhetorical question - forum decorum and all that).

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Not sure I'd agree - which clubs would have to go?  (Rhetorical question - forum decorum and all that).

 

Any that don't attract enough fans/investment to cover their costs. 

Shame it's not a level playing field though.

(Rhetorical answer - forum decorum and all that)

Edited by BoD
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Not sure I'd agree - which clubs would have to go?  (Rhetorical question - forum decorum and all that).

Arsenal? It ought to be remembered that they are the only club to have only ever played in the top league. Maybe we can't close them down, but a spell in the now Championship League, would give them a taste of what every other club has faced!

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What a great piece of feature writing.

 

Plain fact is that there are too many clubs in London. And having West Ham move in next door must have been the final nail in the coffin for Orient.

Sorry but that is utter boll0cks. There are not too many league clubs in London. In fact support for the smaller clubs has been growing in recent years as the Chelsea,Arse,Spurs,Hammers of the premiership continue to price families out of existence. Non league clubs like Dulwich Hamlet, Welling United, etc are seeing a slow but steady growth. 

 

WHU's move has not changed the O's attendance figures one bit. They were falling well before. Leyton Orient had a stable and sustainable supporter base. They still have good revenue from many events in their supporters bar. The final nail in the coffin came from an ownership that has killed a once proud club. The blame for that has to go squarely on the FA and EFL for allowing such an unsuitable ownership. Blame too has to go to Barry Hearn for nailing his colours to the Spurs mast in order to try and scuttle the WHU purchase (at the time) of the Olympic stadium. It was his and Levy's legal filibusters that caused the Olympic committee to cancel the original sale tender and cost the taxpayer £200m that would have been met by WHU as owners. At the time around 20% of the O's attendance were WHU supporters. Hearn's actions alone cost the club around 600 tickets out of a regular 3000 attendance per match, well before the stadium move. Hearn only ever wanted to sell Brisbane road for profit. He sold the club but still owns the ground btw. As soon as the Italian's fustercluck is complete and the HMRC wind up the club, Hearn will finally get his wish and Brisbane road will become just another housing development. (see also the 4 corners of the ground that were previously turned into flats.)

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Your post reminded me of a long forgotten comic strip from the late 'sixties/early 'seventies.  Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it was called "Football Family Robinson" and concerned the exploits of Thatcham United (loosely based on Swindon Town?) who played in a lower division and their entire squad drawn from the ranks of the Robinson family.  The club was always struggling financially and played under the shadow of an evil Shylock-type character who wanted to turn their ground into a shopping mall...

 

http://www.britishcomics.com/jag-comic

Edited by EddieB
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About Cristiano Ronaldo - I agree with the saying "It's not arrogance if you can back it up".

Even I could have scored a couple of those last night. The credit should go to the players who created the chances.

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